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John Eliot translates the Bible into Algonquin; its printing makes it the first Bible published in North America.
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During the Salem witch trials, 150 people are accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 are executed.
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The French and Indian War erupts between English and French Colonists over territory disputes.
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Noah Webster publishes the first English dictionary.
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The Monroe Doctrine proclaims that European countries should no longer interfere with American affairs.
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Queen Victoria becomes monarch of Great Britain at age eighteen; she would reign for almost sixty-four years.
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William Wells Brown publishes Clotel, becoming the first African-American novelist to be published.
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Open violence breaks out between abolitionists and pro-slavery Americans in the Kansas-Nebraska territory, dubbed "Bleeding Kansas" by the press.
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Charles Darwin introduces the theory of evolution to the London Linnaean Society.
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The Civil War ends with the surrender of General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, Virginia.
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President Andrew Johnson is impeached; he avoids expulsion from office by one vote in the U.S. Senate
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Yellow Stone is established as the world's first national park.
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Lakota Sioux and North Cheyenne forces defeat General George Armstrong Custer's cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn
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The U.S. Supreme Court declares Standard Oil a monopoly and orders John Rockefeller to dissolve the corporation.
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Ford's Model T dominates the automobile market, selling more than all other models combined.
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The Chicago White Sox intentionally lose the World series, resulting in the "Black Sox" scandal.
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The stock market plunges dramatically, leading to the Great Depression.
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The Social Security Act provides benefits for retired workers, the unemployed, people with disabilities, and others in need.
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African-American track star Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in the Olympics, held in Berlin.
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The Baseball Hall of Fame is established in Cooperstown, New York.
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On August 6 and 9, the United States drops two nuclear weapons on Japan; Japan surrenders on August 15, ending World War II
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Jackie Robinson becomes African American to play major league baseball in the twentieth century.
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Alger Hiss, a former member of the U.S. Department of State, is accused of being a Soviet spy.
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The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb on the island on Enewetak .
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for selling nuclear arms secrets to the Soviet Union.
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President John F. Kennedy is assassinated; Lyndon B. Johnson assumes office.
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Thurgood Marshall becomes first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
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Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated while campaigning for the presidency.
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Richard Nixon is elected president.
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Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon.
